My Favorite Chinese Fashion Trends

You’ll see a lot of interesting things on the streets of China, and that’s part of what makes living here so fun! Here are some of my favorite/most interesting fashion trends I’ve seen around China.

PAJAMAS EVERYWHERE

In wintertime it’s not uncommon to see Chinese people walking around in their matching pajama set. In the morning. In the afternoon. At night. I don’t see this often in Guangzhou, but it was a pretty regular sight in Hengyang and other smaller cities.

Comfort and warmth are more important than making a fashion statement (which I totally respect) and they’ll even wear their slippers to complete the look.

SPLIT PANTS

Maybe you’ve heard rumors about Chinese split pants, and the rumors are true. Chinese parents buy these little pants for their babies and you’ll see their bare bottoms hanging out around town. It’s much more convenient if your baby needs to go to the bathroom ASAP, say, if you’re walking down the street and you’re not near a public toilet. I can’t even count how many babies I’ve seen go to the bathroom in public. It happens.

Sometimes little kids will have diapers on underneath their split pants, like this little guy. (LOOK HOW CUTE HE IS HOLDING HIS GRANDPA’S HAND)

DENIM JACKET + BLACK PANTS

I guess this is like the Basic Chinese Girl outfit. I’m pretty sure almost every girl owns this combination (and I’m guilty of this too). I don’t know how or where this started, but it’s so common that I couldn’t help but take pics of countless unsuspecting Chinese girls to share this.

CHINGLISH WORDS

In America, people get tattoos of Chinese characters. In China, people get tattoos of English words, they buy things with English words, and they wear shirts with English words written on them.

Most of the time those English words don’t make sense. Sometimes the grammar is wrong, and sometimes it’s just classic Chinglish, a mashup of English and Chinese phrases and translations put together. And most of the time the person wearing the shirt doesn’t know what that English means, or they’re unaware it’s an offensive word.

5. FLOWERS ON YOUR HEAD

I don’t see this much anymore, but for a brief time a year ago it was more popular. I thought it was so cute, people would clip these little plastic flowers in their hair.

BOYS CARRYING THEIR GIRLFRIEND’S PURSES

I guess this isn’t really a fashion trend but more of a cultural difference between Western and Eastern dating norms. Boyfriends here will help their girls out and you’ll see them walking around with a Gucci bag or cute little backpack you know isn’t theirs (or maybe it is?) How sweet right?

It can be so surprising and funny to see these kinds of trends, but I really enjoy how unique and different Chinese culture is! And just because I see some people do these things doesn’t mean all Chinese people do 😉 All in good fun! Let’s see what else we can find on the streets of China.